Do parents go to open days?

[Inniu]

We live in Ireland but DD is looking at universities in the UK.
Do parents normally go to open days?
Having to arrange childcare for a number of mid week trips to the UK will a challenge

Your child can go on her own surely?

Yes most had parents with them. A few didn’t & looked a little lost but there were a few in groups of friends.

This was 4 years ago.

30+ years ago I went on my own but as a lot of parents are paying now they are invested. There were talks specifically aimed at parents also.

Yes. But dd was limited to weekend ones only if she wanted me to come with her as I can't take term time holidays.

Yes, it’s common for parents to go with their dc nowadays, and some places put on talks just for parents.

I think since tuition fees etc were introduced, parents have become more involved. A real change from when I went when your future depended on you visiting the uni on a day trip, and what you read in the prospectus.

@merlotqueen
She is more than capable of going by herself. I was asking if parents generally go. I would not like her to be the only one on her own.
I don’t think any of her friends are interested in going to the UK

A lot do, but it’s not essential, and there will be some prospective students attending without their parents. If your daughter is feeling a bit nervous about doing them on her own, perhaps you could compromise and do the first couple and then leave her to do the rest by herself?

I’d say it was about a 50/50 split when I applied (8 years ago), you can go but she won’t be the only one on her own if you don’t

Many parents do & I think it's helpful. (I'm in Ireland too OP & work at a university)

If she's considering the UK, I'd definitely go. She'll need that support to understand a system that's different to Ireland in some respects.

Do bear in mind the possible effects of Brexit, btw, most pertinently on fees once no longer in the EU. Also as you know I'm sure the application system very different to CAO (can in someways be reassuring) so good to get all that info.

Who knows when we will find out what impact Brexit will have on Irish students studying in the UK but it is unlikely we will know anything before the open days this autumn so it is better to attend than skip thrm

I would go to one if poss and attend the parent talk, which includes finance which you are more likely to grasp, and look at accommodation, that sort of thing, there is a lot to take in and an experienced eye is useful. You can then compare notes and she can work out what’s important to her and things she might have overlooked. For example, no point having halls with meals included if she is vegan, when there is also self catering that she would prefer (that was an issue with dd1 for example) Then she can do the rest herself and will feel more comfortable. She will have a hard journey to do most in one day, or need to stay somewhere in accommodation so it depends on her age etc. Some places won’t take under 18s unaccompanied, which mine was. Good luck!

I'm on the University open day rounds again this year (3rd dc).
The honest answer is 'Yes', overwhelmingly so.
There are always some prospective students at them without parents, but they do tend to have gone with a friend, not on their own.
In all the open days I've been to, I only noticed one student there on his own (obviously there would certainly be others, but they are in a small minority).

As Au79 has mentioned, overnight accommodation may be an issue if your DD isn't yet 18. However, the lower age limit for Youth Hostels is 16, so for some universities, this might be an option?
www.yha.org.uk/faqs

We/I went with DD to 7/8 unis for ease of travel, safety (as two were 350/400 miles away), to get a feel for the place ourselves and shear nosiness! However, we expected DD to take the lead and decide what she wanted to look at and ask questions herself, followed by the odd question arising out of the conversation ourselves. I have to say, being with her made me realise she is ready to go, she asked lots of sensible questions, clearly understood the subject. The other uni in London, she attended with a friend.

I agree that lots of parents do attend open days, but I didn’t go to all of them and my dds attended a fair few with friends.

What year is your DD planning to start her degree?

My parents came with both me and my brother when we were looking, the only one I did without them was Hull because neither could get the day off work for it, so I went with a couple of friends. This was 10 years ago.

DS2 has been to several open days this summer. Nearly all the potential applicants had at least one parent with them.

I’ve been to two with DS. The overwhelming majority of students had their parents at the first one. It was more 50/50 at the second one.

The midweek open days are slightly more likely to have unaccompanied young people (compared to the weekend open days). Many of these will be in small groups with friends though.

It is completely fine to attend on her own, but (to answer your question) she will be part of a small minority.

Who knows when we will find out what impact Brexit will have on Irish students studying in the UK but it is unlikely we will know anything before the open days this autumn so it is better to attend than skip thrm

If she starts Autumn 2020 she'll be entitled to loans for the duration of her course - bear in mind she wouldn't be able to access PG loan afterwards, or to an extra year of UG study, so if she's thinking about a four year course she needs to apply for that - she wouldn't be able to start a three year then transfer to a four year. Gov already announced that. Assuming we leave EU this Autumn, unlikely to be able to get loans for 2021 or later start.

@Inniu
Who knows when we will find out what impact Brexit will have on Irish students studying in the UK but it is unlikely we will know anything before the open days this autumn so it is better to attend than skip thrm

I didn't say you should skip them 🤷🏻‍♀️ I said you should go!

You won't know anything definitive, sure, but I assume your child isn't going to university until 2020 at the earliest; therefore it would be good to think ahead, and research Irish options plus possibly other EU countries if of interest.

This was me trying to be helpful, speaking as someone who works in the sector.

Some do, I recommend going to one so that you can see the set up and attend the parents talks but whilst locations change, from a parents point of view it's the same so my DD's mostly went alone or with school.

Ps many universities open up the halls in July and September so prospective students coming a distance can stay

Mostly the parents do go.
I've had two DC go through uni in the last 5 years and they went on a few on their own but I went with them for others.
In the UK there are two sorts of open day. The first pre-application is perhaps less important.

After they have applied and received an offer they are then invited to an offer holder's open day in the spring. These are perhaps more important and an overwhelming majority of youngsters had a parent with them on those days.